Catalog
25 000 Drachmai Agricultural Treasury Bond, second issue
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
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| Value | 25 000 Drachmai (25 000) |
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| Obverse description | Green-tinted treasury bond note with an ornate guilloche border framing the entire face. The header carries the bank title in bold Greek capitals, below which the denomination '25000 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ' is set within a central guilloche rosette, flanked on both sides by the series designation 'ΣΕΙΡΑ Β!'. The lower portion contains several lines of Greek text detailing the bond's terms and redemption conditions, with two manuscript signatures above the date 'ΕΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ ΤΗ 3 ΜΑΡΤΙΟΥ 1943' and a serial number in red. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ 25.000 |
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| Comments |
Greece's wartime occupation governments issued Treasury bonds as a mechanism to extract purchasing power from the economy under Axis administration. By 1943, hyperinflation was already accelerating at a rate that made conventional banknote printing inadequate — the drachma was collapsing in real time, and denominations were scaling faster than presses could be retooled.
Agricultural Treasury Bonds occupied an unusual hybrid position: technically debt instruments, practically currency. The "second issue" designation distinguishes this series from the earlier 1942 agricultural bond program, reflecting how quickly successive emergency measures were exhausted.
Pick 139 is among the higher denominations of this short-lived instrument class, which became worthless within months as inflation rendered even five-figure sums trivial.